Yahoo photos and videos to improve thanks to Getty Images partnership

Yahoo’s search engine will receive a boost through a partnership with Getty Images that will see up to 20,000 new photos added to web searches.

The images will be uploaded to Yahoo within minutes of being snapped by Getty’s network of professional photographers and will be connected to similar images tied to existing stories.

For example, search for “President Barack Obama” and you’ll get a list of the latest Obama stories, plus host of Getty images of the President.

It’s not just still photos that will be improved, with Getty Images also providing Yahoo with video. High-quality photos and videos will be marked clearly with an “HQ” badge and Yahoo will also make it possible to condense a search into revealing only the most recent of photos and videos.

Image results can be displayed in full screen with thumbnails being listed in four columns. Hover over a pic and it instantly becomes larger, while the same process on a video will start it playing. With HTML 5 support, this facility is compatible on both computers and smartphones.